Advanced Courses

ESMO-ESO Courses on Medical Oncology for Medical Students

These annual five-day residential courses enable students to get a full picture of this challenging and interesting professional field before making the choice of their specialisation.

Preceptorship Courses

Apply now to join one of our Preceptorship courses!

Workshops & Courses

ESMO fosters the advancement of cancer research by supporting clinical trials workshops to inspire young oncologists from different disciplines across the globe to become the next generation of active researchers.

Patient Guides

Guides for Patients are designed to assist patients, their relatives and caregivers to better understand the nature of different types of cancer and evaluate the best available treatment choices

Personalised Medicine Explained

Video interviews and articles designed to help patients, policy makers and other non-medical professionals better understand the principles of personalised cancer medicine

Getting the Most out of Your Oncologist

Now available in Romanian, our Guide for Patients with Advanced Cancer is designed for patients, their family members and oncologists.

Designated Centres of Integrated Oncology and Palliative Care

The ESMO Designated Centres of Integrated Oncology and Palliative Care accreditation programme recognises cancer centres which provide comprehensive services in supportive and palliative care as part of their routine care.

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Policy News

Welcome to OncologyPRO, the home of ESMO’s educational and scientific resources, with Guidelines, a comprehensive list of E-Learning modules, Factsheets on biomarkers, slides and webcasts from our educational programme, and more... to support continuing medical education and daily practice!

Patient Guide on Immunotherapy-Related Side Effects and Their Management

Immune-related side effects arising from treatment with checkpoint inhibitors can affect any organ or tissue, but most commonly affect the skin, colon, lungs, liver and endocrine organs (such as the pituitary gland or thyroid gland).

Most of these side effects are mild to moderate and reversible if detected early and addressed appropriately, so the most important action you can take is to tell your doctor or oncology team of any new or worsening symptoms, or any symptoms that are worrying you.

Side-effects of checkpoint inhibitor treatment typically appear within a few weeks or months of starting treatment, but they can arise at any time during treatment – as early as days after the first infusion, but sometimes as long as 1 year after treatment has finished.

In this guide, you can find information about:

The immune system and cancer

The concept of immuno-oncology

How does modern immunotherapy differ from chemotherapy and tumour-targeted drugs?

What are the side effects of immunotherapy?

What symptoms should I look out for?

When are these side effects most likely to appear and how common are they?

This guide has been prepared to help you, your family and your friends better understand the nature of immunotherapy-related side effects and their management. The medical information described in this document is based on the ESMO Clinical Practice Guideline for management of toxicities from immunotherapy, which is designed to help clinicians with the diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of these events.

The Patient Guide on Immunotherapy-related side effects and their management is published in 2017.